Chapter 3

"But only after you tell me exactly what you need my systems for."

It's my turn to curl my lip as I shove his body away from me, slinking out of the chair and backing away. His smoldering eyes shift in hue as he snaps his face toward me before he begins to prowl in my direction. His large reptilian tail whips and knocks the chair to its side, a silent communication that I'm wearing his patience thin.

"I need it to find the missing heiress," I blurt softly.

He doesn't stop his momentum, herding me until my back hits the wall. "And why should I care about a spoiled little brat who belongs to a multibillion dollar greed machine when I have my own issues to worry about?"

"I-It's something I have to do. A loose end, if you will." With him this close and our bodies pressed this way, I can't think straight. But I need to make sure not to reveal too much about myself or my past in case he uses it against me in the future. To Fortune City, I was just Kira, an underground hacker on the dark web. Atarah Yu-Ri, once a servant girl to house Laska, no longer exists.

But it's the ghost of Atarah who needs to find closure for a past better left dead. She never did make good decisions.

Met with silence, my breath stutters when Ryuu lifts a clawed finger and runs it down my jaw line. I'm not sure if my answer is enough to satisfy him and I have no choice but to stand here, caged by his presence, until he makes his decision. Ryuu always knows how to play the game of power and dominance—it was why his rivals never went beyond petty squabbles that simply required immediate elimination.

"I'll offer you a deal. I'll allow you to use whatever you need if you agree to reveal a few things to me."

It sounds too simple. Let me use his tech for a few simple answers? "What's the catch?"

He leans in and takes a deep inhale, causing me to close my eyes. I force my heart to slow and my mind to keep to the mission.

"You won't know exactly what those things are until I call for it. And if you don't come through with your part of the bargain, know that I have my ways to make sure you do, little fox."

As quickly as he cornered me, he leaves me without another word and returns to his desk, resuming his perusal of the paperwork on his desk as if the conversation never happened.

I'm embarrassed at the way my face falls with strange disappointment as he casually leaves his office, heading down into the heart of the club. I take a few moments to catch my breath before I follow in his tracks. Another guard is stationed at the door. The moment I descend the final step, he stops me and points to the side. As if Ryuu telepathically communicated with his people, I'm led through a series of different doors and halls until I reach a dark room filled with buttons and projections against the wall.

"Use this side. Don't touch anything on the left. If you need anything, you know where to find us." I nod and watch curiously as he moves until he melds into the shadows of the wall.

Shaking my head, my hands move before my mind can. Tapping my watch, I sync a few items into his mainframe and begin my search. Names fly across the wall rapidly in succession with stats, addresses, affiliations, hits. I plant myself on the chair and get a little closer.

My ears perked up. Ryuu's network made me wet but I had to focus. After a string of connections, I was able to boil down the suspects to Stitch, a spooky Kobold outlaw and Dare, a petite Minotaur mobster. Both are known to have run-ins and crimes around Milicron Corporation. Whoever is Ryuu's infobroker, they were meticulous in their intelligence gathering. Ryuu's database is incomparable, even to the ones I've come across on the darkweb. It was why I was so tantalized when I infiltrated one of his smaller clubs that wasn't fully integrated with his mainframe yet.

A few finger taps and windows pop open left and right—one news article after another.

Stitch was caught sending a few lackeys to pilfer Milicron's AI suits—a state of the art design that was still under beta testing and only offered to those who could afford their hefty price tag. He failed, of course, caught during a high speed hover chase a few miles from one of the major skyscrapers. His lackeys were marked as presumed dead when they didn't resurface after a month's time. I stare at Stitch's profile image and note that he has some Dragon ancestry beneath his Kobold facade.

Something I also note with Ryuu, though Dragons haven't been seen in decades, their bloodlines assumed to have been watered down by human genetics as monsters and men began to integrate centuries past.

Tapping my fingers on the table, I flick my head to the side to swipe the images off the screen. Dare was caught trying to hack into Milicron's database for the blueprint of a Photon Nuk Hand Cannon. A weapon that shoots artillery as well as radioactive beams. I've come across Dare's servers before in passing, his cyberware is very well maintained. Ryuu's intel never mentions if it was recovered or if the hack was successful, only that it was attempted. Interesting.

Could Stitch be the one out for vengeance against the corporation once he realized his men were gone? I could see the Kobold having a fiery temper and retaliating to save face.

Tapping my watch, I copy what I need and push away from the desk before shutting the hologram down and plungling the room into a dim lighting. Something slinks in the shadows and my tails swish in agitation. I stare into the void for a while, making sure it doesn't move again before I turn and run into a hard body and strong arms that steady me.

Tilting my head back, I find myself face to face with Ryuu. I try to discreetly move away but his arms around me tighten in response.

"You didn't think I would let you escape without me making sure you didn't take more than you needed, did you?"

I cock my head to the side. "What makes you think I need anything else from you? I can easily slide into your systems if I wanted to."

Crap. I clamp my mouth shut after the slip of tongue.

"Yet, you came all the way here just to ask to use said systems. Your story isn't adding up, little fox. What are you really here for? Surely, not for old petty crimes like Stitch's. What are you hiding?"

"Is this part of the deal? Is this one of your questions?" I'm trying to throw him off my scent, but I think I'm failing miserably despite my bold tone.

"I can smell your lies, Kira."

My eyes widen, but I quickly school my features. "Yeah? Maybe I should tell you I like your hands on me so you can smell that lie too and stick ‘em back where they belong."

The fanged smile that crosses his lips makes my insides crackle and my cybernetic arm twitch. He knows exactly what it does to me as he slowly slides his hands down my arm and finally releases them.

"Jerk," I mumble and he presses his lips together. Does he have super hearing too?

"Why do you need to find a kidnapped brat, Kira? People go missing all the time, especially heirs and heiresses. What makes her different from all the other casualties in this place?"

It's a logical question I don't feel like answering. Not now, when I'm unsure of Ryuu and his gains from it.

"Maybe I plan to make my own ransom when I find her," I blurt out, trying to throw him off my trail. He cants his head to the side slowly and stares into my soul as if the truth was a pulsing siren blaring behind my skull. Breathing slowly, I steady my nerves, readying myself for his next bombardment of questions.

He catches me by surprise when he leans in with a wicked grin. "Then I suggest we get started on this kidnapping scheme of yours, little fox. I do so love a good hunt."